BRISBANE, Australia, March 8, (AP): A tropical cyclone weakened into a tropical low weather system on Saturday as it approached Brisbane, Australia’s third-most populous city, bringing flooding rain that was expected to lash the coastal region for days. Tropical Cyclone Alfred had been expected to become on Saturday the first cyclone to cross the east Australian coast near the Queensland state capital since 1974.

But it weakened early Saturday to a tropical low, which is defined as carrying sustained winds of less than 63 kph (39 mph). The system was expected to cross the coast north of Brisbane between Bribie Island and the Sunshine Coast region later Saturday, Bureau of Meteorology manager Matt Collopy said. "Heavy-to-locally intense rainfall leading to flash and riverine flooding now becomes the major concern as the ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred moves inland," Collopy said.

Cyclones are common in Queensland’s tropical north but are rare in the state’s temperate and densely populated southeast corner that borders New South Wales state. A 61-year-old man remained missing after being swept away in a flooded river near the town of Dorrigo in New South Wales and a woman sustained minor injuries when an apartment building lost its roof at the Queensland border city of Gold Coast on Friday, police said. The woman was one of 21 people who were evacuated from the building.

More than 330,000 homes and businesses lost power on both sides of the border, a large proportion of them at Gold Coast, which recorded the strongest gusts of 107 kph (66 mph) on Friday night. Of those, 291,000 premises were in Queensland, including 131,000 at Gold Coast, officials said. Another 45,000 were without power in New South Wales, they said.

Power lines, homes and cars were damaged by falling trees across the region over Friday night. A Brazilian couple, Natalie Garreta and Pedro Machado, visited Gold Coast's Narrowneck Beach on the edge of the Surfers Paradise tourist precinct on Saturday to contact their families in Sao Paolo. Telephone reception has been a casualty of electricity outages. "At least we could tell our families we’re all right," Garreta told the AP. They also came to survey the damage.